Change in finances. How to help child get grant now?

Narla

There has been change in my financial situation now that my husband and I are separating and I will no longer be able to provide as much financial support for my daughter who has 2 more years to study at university.
Due to our dual income DD did not previously qualify for any additional grants or extended loans however, now I'm wondering where to go to gain any advice on whether she is now going to be in a position to.

Please can anyone point me in the right direction where to find out?

many thanks.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Hi Narla

I am rather surprised that you posted this 5 hours ago on a Sunday yet no-one with links to Student Finance has offered any overt pointer.

I would imagine a phone call with SFE tomorrow or even this evening if lines are still open might be a good start. Perhaps just a general enquiry. The situation is not unusual. If the separation is amicable and both parents are planning to share responsibilities equally then it might be argued there is no change in entitlement, but if one household has now become "home" and that is a lower income household, and if the other household is to take an extreme, a bedsit, then perhaps there has been an immediate change in circumstances in the "home" that SFE can reflect in a revised offer ?

Clearly when an 18+y old student is away for 40 weeks a year for 3 years or more at uni, the question of which is the home household becomes rather moot ... for EVERY student!

Experts in SFE matters frequent this forum. Maybe one might PM you or already have done so. I am far from being one such but I am sure the answer might be of interest to many ...

silvercar

Narla wrote: »

There has been change in my financial situation now that my husband and I are separating and I will no longer be able to provide as much financial support for my daughter who has 2 more years to study at university.
Due to our dual income DD did not previously qualify for any additional grants or extended loans however, now I'm wondering where to go to gain any advice on whether she is now going to be in a position to.

Please can anyone point me in the right direction where to find out?

many thanks.

If your income has changed by more than 15%, I think you can resubmit to SFE. You will now need to submit the financial information from yourself, by creating an ID for yourself and linking it to your DD's application. You can do this yourself online.

Expect some sort of inquiry from SFE, as it is a well used ruse for parents with offspring not entitled to more than the minimum to suddenly separate to gain more financial help for their children.

silvercar

I am far from being one such but I am sure the answer might be of interest to many ...

The answer is that maintenance grants / loans are based on the income of the household in which the student lives in non-term time. If this income is reduced by the main earner moving out, then suddenly the student finds themselves eligible to more grants/ loans than previously. They may also be entitled to grants/ bursaries from their university, designed to assist the students from the poorest households.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Thanks silvercar - does the student need to contact both SFE and the university for automatic university low income family scholarships/bursaries to become available i.e. does SFE throw some kind of switch that cascades down to the uni ?

NervousHomeowner

Your best bet is to contact Student Finance tomorrow and see if they will re-assess your income. They should be able to tell you what you'll need to do or send as proof of your lowered income, too.

Your daughter should also contact her university and ask to speak to the funding department, to see if she's entitled to any scholarships or bursaries. Some unis offer bursaries for students from single parent families or to those from low income families or she may qualify for things like academic excellence scholarships.

The stuff from Student Finance and the scholarships may take a while to come through, though so it would be worthwhile for your daughter to find out if the uni also has a hardship fund that she could apply to, in order to help her out financially in the mean time. The funding department should know if there is anything like that available to her

ETA:

TurnUpForTheBooks wrote: »

Thanks silvercar - does the student need to contact both SFE and the university for automatic university low income family scholarships/bursaries to become available i.e. does SFE throw some kind of switch that cascades down to the uni ?

Nope, SF won't alert her university so she will need to contact them directly in order to find out what scholarships are available to her

devildog

Narla wrote: »

There has been change in my financial situation now that my husband and I are separating and I will no longer be able to provide as much financial support for my daughter who has 2 more years to study at university.
Due to our dual income DD did not previously qualify for any additional grants or extended loans however, now I'm wondering where to go to gain any advice on whether she is now going to be in a position to.

Please can anyone point me in the right direction where to find out?

many thanks.

Here is the change of circumstances form
http://www.studentfinanceni.co.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/NPIPG001/NPIPS001/NPIPS110/NPIPS008/SFNI_CO1_1314_D.PDF

As already stated, your income has to have dropped by 15% and if I recall correctly you will need to supply 'proof' of the separation.

silvercar

TurnUpForTheBooks wrote: »

Thanks silvercar - does the student need to contact both SFE and the university for automatic university low income family scholarships/bursaries to become available i.e. does SFE throw some kind of switch that cascades down to the uni ?

There is automatic passing on of entitlement if you applied for finance in the normal timetables and you clicked the box consenting to SFE passing on information. At other stages of the academic year it may be necessary for you to give the process a nudge.

Your first task is to get SFE to re-assess.

jayII

Is your husband her father? If he is, then his income will still be taken into account, though may be assessed differently than when you were part of the same household.

Dunroamin

jayII wrote: »

Is your husband her father? If he is, then his income will still be taken into account, though may be assessed differently than when you were part of the same household.

Sorry, it doesn't work like that any more.

Poppy9

I had to do this for 13-14 academic year as OH no longer works and they were going to assess on 11-12 income and I wanted current year. A huge faff. I had to provide details of all 11-12 income and then 12-13. Even though OH had no taxable welfare benefits I had to have a letter from them confirming this. They then wrote back querying his Industrial injuries benefit but it's not taxable and I had only provided a copy of this award as confirmation - I had even highlighted this in covering letter.

Everytime they wanted more info. there was a 2 week delay of them writing to me. I used to email them and they responded by letter. Eventually told it was all sorted and I would be assessed temp. on info I provided and then reassessed next year on 12-13 income. Only problem was they forgot to, in their words, "push the button" to trigger the re assessment so I had to chase it up again. Only finally sorted in August.

We only scrapped into 15% drop in income due to renting out a house and that our BTL mortgage could not be used to reduce the rent income.

It does seem a bit unfair that a child with parents living apart are only assessed on one income. i.e. my friend earns £25k and until her child went to uni she had £400 a month from her OH as maintenance. Now he gives this £400 direct to their child and his income is disregarded for student finance. He earns £80k a year and their child has lived an alternating 4 days with each parent for last 12 years.